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Decimal Day
Decimal Day (Irish: Lá Deachúil) in the United Kingdom and in Ireland was Monday 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence.
Before this date, both the British pound sterling and the Irish pound (symbol "£") were subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 (old) pence, a total of 240 pence. With decimalisation, the pound kept its old value and name in each currency, but the shilling was abolished, and the pound was divided into 100 new pence (abbreviated to "p"). In the UK, the new coins initially featured the word “new”, but in due course this was dropped.
Each new penny was worth 2.4 old pence ("d.") in each currency. Amounts of old pence less than 6d. or 12d. did not convert exactly into multiples of (21⁄2) new pence. Conversion tables were provided, showing how prices in £sd rounded to the new currency: as an example, an old value of £7, 10 shillings and sixpence, abbreviated £7 10/6 or £7 10s 6d, became £7.521⁄2p.
Coins of half a new penny were introduced in the UK and in Ireland to maintain the approximate granularity of the old penny, but these were dropped in the UK in 1984 and in Ireland on 1 January 1987 as inflation reduced their value.
The Russian ruble was the first decimal currency to be used in Europe, dating to 1704, though China had been using a decimal system for at least 2000 years. Elsewhere, the Coinage Act of 1792 introduced decimal currency to the United States, the first English-speaking country to adopt a decimalised currency. In France, the decimal French franc was introduced in 1795.
Before the 1970s, earlier efforts in the United Kingdom to introduce decimalised currency had failed; in 1824, the United Kingdom Parliament rejected Sir John Wrottesley's proposals to decimalise sterling, which were prompted by the introduction of the French franc three decades earlier. Following this, little progress towards decimalisation was made in the United Kingdom for over a century, with the exception of the two shilling silver florin, first issued on 1849, worth 1/10 of a pound. A double florin or four shilling piece, introduced in 1887, was a further step towards decimalisation, but failed to gain acceptance and was struck only between 1887 and 1890.
Though little further progress was made, The Decimal Association, founded in 1841 to promote decimalisation and metrication, saw interest in both causes boosted by a growing national realisation of the importance of ease in international trade, following the 1851 Great Exhibition; it was as a result of the growing interest in decimalisation that the florin was issued. In a preliminary report issued in 1857 by the Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage, the benefits and drawbacks of decimalisation were considered, but the report failed to draw any conclusions on the adoption of a change in currency. A final report in 1859 from the two remaining commissioners, Lord Overstone and Governor of the Bank of England John Hubbard, came out against the idea, claiming that it had "few merits".
In 1862, the Select committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures.
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Decimal Day AI simulator
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Decimal Day
Decimal Day (Irish: Lá Deachúil) in the United Kingdom and in Ireland was Monday 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence.
Before this date, both the British pound sterling and the Irish pound (symbol "£") were subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 (old) pence, a total of 240 pence. With decimalisation, the pound kept its old value and name in each currency, but the shilling was abolished, and the pound was divided into 100 new pence (abbreviated to "p"). In the UK, the new coins initially featured the word “new”, but in due course this was dropped.
Each new penny was worth 2.4 old pence ("d.") in each currency. Amounts of old pence less than 6d. or 12d. did not convert exactly into multiples of (21⁄2) new pence. Conversion tables were provided, showing how prices in £sd rounded to the new currency: as an example, an old value of £7, 10 shillings and sixpence, abbreviated £7 10/6 or £7 10s 6d, became £7.521⁄2p.
Coins of half a new penny were introduced in the UK and in Ireland to maintain the approximate granularity of the old penny, but these were dropped in the UK in 1984 and in Ireland on 1 January 1987 as inflation reduced their value.
The Russian ruble was the first decimal currency to be used in Europe, dating to 1704, though China had been using a decimal system for at least 2000 years. Elsewhere, the Coinage Act of 1792 introduced decimal currency to the United States, the first English-speaking country to adopt a decimalised currency. In France, the decimal French franc was introduced in 1795.
Before the 1970s, earlier efforts in the United Kingdom to introduce decimalised currency had failed; in 1824, the United Kingdom Parliament rejected Sir John Wrottesley's proposals to decimalise sterling, which were prompted by the introduction of the French franc three decades earlier. Following this, little progress towards decimalisation was made in the United Kingdom for over a century, with the exception of the two shilling silver florin, first issued on 1849, worth 1/10 of a pound. A double florin or four shilling piece, introduced in 1887, was a further step towards decimalisation, but failed to gain acceptance and was struck only between 1887 and 1890.
Though little further progress was made, The Decimal Association, founded in 1841 to promote decimalisation and metrication, saw interest in both causes boosted by a growing national realisation of the importance of ease in international trade, following the 1851 Great Exhibition; it was as a result of the growing interest in decimalisation that the florin was issued. In a preliminary report issued in 1857 by the Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage, the benefits and drawbacks of decimalisation were considered, but the report failed to draw any conclusions on the adoption of a change in currency. A final report in 1859 from the two remaining commissioners, Lord Overstone and Governor of the Bank of England John Hubbard, came out against the idea, claiming that it had "few merits".
In 1862, the Select committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures.